Trinity Delivers Three Corps Of Engineers Vessels
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken elivery of two 85-ft. (25.9-m) towboats and one 53-ft. (16.1-m) drift collector, built by the Trinity Marine Group's Equitable Shipyards, Inc. (New Orleans) and Aluminum Boats, Inc. (Crown Point, a.), respectively. Trinity has now delivered light vessels to the Corps in just over two years. The two boats, Fred Lee and Bettendorf, are vearly identical except the Fred Lee has a hydraulically- operated elevated pilot house which can rise 10 ft. (3 m) above the waterline. It provides for better visibility over high or long tows, and reduced height for clearance under low bridges. The Bettendorf also has 270 sq. ft. of storage space which is used as a work/tool room.
The new towboats have a 30-ft. (9.2-m) beam and a 10-ft. (3-m) draft. Normal operating draft is 7 ft. (2.1m) Each is powered by two Caterpillar 3512 diesels driving through Reintjes reverse/ reduction gears. Electrical power is provided by two Caterpillar 3304 diesels driving 65 kW generators. Fred Lee's namesake worked for the Corps for 43 years. The boat is now assigned to the Corps' Vicksburg, Miss, district for work on the Red River. Bettendorf is named in honor of that city in Iowa, and is assigned to the Corps' Rock Island district for work in the Quad cities area of Bettendorf, Davenport, Rock Island and Moline and as far south as St. Louis.
The drift collector Harrell, named in honor of Mark Harrell, a career employee of the Corps, and operated by the Norfolk, Va. district, is designed to pick up and remove floating driftwood and debris in the Chesapeake Bay area.
The all-aluminum vessel has a 15-ft. (4.6-m) beam and a normal operating draft of four ft. (1.2 m).
It is powered by two Detroit Diesel 8V71 diesel engines developing a total of 610 hp through Twin Disc reverse/reduction gears. Electrical power is provided by a Northern Lights 20 kW generator.
Recent Trinity deliveries to the Corps include the Mississippi, a 241-ft. (73.5-m), 7,000-hp towboat, reportedly the largest towboat ever built in the U.S. and the Corps' flagship; the 300-ft. (91.4- m), 5,700-hp dredge Hurley-, the 65-ft. (19.8-m), all-aluminum, twin-waterjet support/crew boat Bogue\ and two 50-ft. (15.2-m), 800-hp towboats, William R. Porter and P.H. Worley.
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